Problems with Book 2 of Little Dorrit

Book 2 of Dickens's Little Dorrit introduces yet another major character - Mrs. General, hired by Mr. Dorrit as a tutor for his daughters, teaching hem etiquette and manners supposedly, but obviously a phony and a fraud and a source of comic relief at her expense - teaching the young women to say "prism" and "Pap" because pronouncing p-words makes their faces prettier (Dickens refers to her work as "varnishing") - but she's obviously after Mr. D's newfound riches. We'll see how long he can maintain his new life, attended by a dozen at least servants and traveling through Europe for no particular reason. The problem, however, with Book 2, based on the first several chapters, is the Little (Amy) Dorrit is so relentlessly good and such a doormat for her domineering sister, Fanny, that our interest in her inevitably wanes. And the social commentary, of course, in Book 2 is a dull blade: Whereas Book One focused to a degree on the mistreatment of debtors in particular and all prisoners in general, with some terrific satire on government corruption and obfuscation - The Circumlocution Department - the satire and commentary in Book 2 is just on the extravagant behavior of the nouveaux riches - a pretty easy target and of little direct concern to most readers then and now. That said, it's still Dickens and includes some fine passages, and though we all sense that Dorrit will squander his wealth and though we all know the LD will inevitably marry Arthur Clennam, we're still curious as to how these turns of event will come about.